about:blank in address bar of IE

[featherkids]

Before my home page comes up in IE, it shows "about:blank" without quote marks in the address bar. Is this normal or should it be changed? My browser now is Avant, but it happened in Microsoft IE as well.

[P3-450]

if you go to internet options you can change the homepage to what you want

[brewster]

Sounds like you may have had xupiter on your pc or someothere malware program. have you run sypbot lately and if so, that change happens when things are cleaned. It may be hot toolbar that did it too. Not sure which one. good luck.

[Prophet]

Looks like a Home Page hijack.

Try this free utility but READ the instructions before you fix anything:

HIJACKTHIS:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/

[DuaneB]

"Trojan.StartPage" will exhibit these symptoms. Here's Symantec's page on it.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/ven...startpage.html

[dougj]

Not every strange occurance is trojan/virus/malware/hijack related!! My browsers always start with about:blank because, as P3-450 suggests, I choose to have it that way. What kind of lame malware would start you at a blank page?

[P3-450]

I wont say it might or might not be a hijack, but i have had the same.

i have gone with information provided from featherkids.

It wont harm it to do a check though, but i didnt want to rush into a conclusion before chcking the obviouse things first.

But im with you on that Doug

[DuaneB]

Precision Time, which is a part of GATOR, will show you "about:blank".

[Prophet]

Not every strange occurance is trojan/virus/malware/hijack related!!

Absolutley. BUT!

about:blank Cross Site Scripting:

When you pass a specially crafted url to the Internet Explorer
about:blank url you can
conduct a Cross Site Scripting Attack with a very simple technic :

about:blank%20[ CROSS SITE SCRIPTING ATTACK]

examples:

about:blank%20<script>alert('8-D uhh !');</script>

about:blank%20<iframe src="about:blank%20<h1>;- )"></iframe>

about:blank%20<h1>XSS is behind you...</h1>

With this you can get ( steal ) cookies from the victim's browser and
perform another
attacks against the victim system.

-----------------
IMPORTANT
NOTES
-----------------

1.- The SP1 for MS Internet Explorer contains XSS protection for url
objects and you can't run this.
2.- This vulnerability is not related with the hole called about://
urls vulnerability .
3.- This vulnerability only concerns the about:blank url .

What kind of lame malware would start you at a blank page?

Possible:
www.blackholes.us

[dougj]

OK, OK! Mea culpa, already! I guess I woke up on the cranky side of the bed this morning.

One of my pet peeves is when I hear people immediatly assume that some kind of virus and/or malware is responsible for a problem without checking other, much more likely, possibilities (Occam's razor, and all that). Lets face it, most problems are not caused by malicious code (unless you want to call MS's own code malicious, which we could probably make a case for. But that's a different subject altogether...) I've heard so many people blame so many things on viruses, yet those same people couldn't be bothered with updating their virus signatures. It just makes me *C*R*A*Z*Y*

Sorry if I misinterpreted the other valuable posts after P3's. I humbly request your forgiveness, and promise to have at least one cup of coffe before posting next time!

[Prophet]

Lets face it, most problems are not caused by malicious code.....

Ah........Well...........speaking for myself, I'll have to disagree.
Also, Malicious Code software has become a multi-$$$billions spin-off industry in itself in just a few short years.

Interesting read from May, 2002:
The Future of Malicious Code

I myself will not minimalize the very, very serious area of Computer Attacks usually by persons interested only in relieving some of their wallets.

[featherkids]

Ok...so what exactly can I do about "about:blank"? I have tried all the suggestions above and it is still there. Ad-aware did find malware, and I deleted it.

[dougj]

To recap: To set your default page, go to the site you want for your default start page. Click Tools, Internet Options, and click the "Use Current" button. It should add the URL to the box. Close your browser, then restart it, and you should go right to that page.

Am I to understand that you've done this and it doesn't stick?

Appended after initial post: You can also check in the registry under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Start Page. What does it say there?

[featherkids]

dougj - Everything is fine now, the home page that I use has always come up without any problem, but for a split second before it does, it shows "about:blank" in the address bar. I now realize that if I hit the "use blank" button under Home page in IE options, it changes to about:blank, so I guess that is the norm when you click on use blank. I did not know this and that is why I posted asking what about:blank is and if it is normal. And all the posts about spyware and viruses, etc. had me worried, but it is fine now.

Thanks everyone!

[shiva_42]

Whoa!!!

Before we all give up on this thread... I probably caused my own problem being too aggressive with my fixes after running HijackThis, but my home page settings are "greyed out" under IE's Tools/Options.

I can change my homepage by editing the registry, but how do I turn back on the ability to change this from the menu? HELP!!!